How Contraception and Sterilization Are Jeopardizing Obama

The Republicans have elevated the old culture war over costs and morals to an election issue — and as a touchstone for the faith of President Obama.

Led by Rick Santorum and supported by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Republicans see a provision in Obama’s healthcare reform law as an attack on religious liberty.

Covering the Costs of Contraception or Sterilization

The law has been in effect since August 1. Accordingly, all companies, even Catholic institutions, must cover employee expenses for contraception (or sterilization) through health insurance. The White House and the Democrats in Congress argue that this protects the rights of women. It has no nothing to do with religion but much more with basic rights.

The latest reaction to Obama’s war against religion, as the Republicans call it, came in a political talk show from Paul Ryan, the young star of the Republicans. The representative from Wisconsin called the passage in the reform law “paternalistic” and “arrogant.”

His Democratic opponent, Chris Van Hollen, objected to this: Since the economy has been improving, Republicans have gone back to the old social issues, which are like “red meat” for their base.

No Atheist Can Be President

Santorum, who wants abortion to be punishable by law, preaches abstinence and thinks contraception in marriage is “not okay,” had previously accused Obama of following a secular “theology, not grounded in the Bible.” As Obama’s advisors rose up against the attempt to deny Obama his faith, Santorum said that he thinks of Obama as a Christian but stands by his accusation.

In less religious countries, where churches struggle to fill the pews, such debates don’t have anywhere close to the political explosiveness that they do in the U.S. There, an atheist or even an apathetic Christian can’t become president. And yet, the debate that the Republicans instigated need not be dangerous for Obama on Election Day in November.

According to some polls, 98 percent of U.S. Catholic women have used contraception at some point in their lives. And 84 percent of U.S. Catholics believe that women who have used contraception can still be good Catholics.

Regarding the issue itself — should employers offer health insurance that pays for contraceptives, which also have other medical uses? — 58 percent of Catholics agreed with Obama’s position.

Contraception Leads to Damaging Behavior

Yet under this president, Santorum sees the U.S. on the path to the blasphemous French Revolution. In a book, Rick Santorum compared women who have abortions to slaveholders who kill their slaves. It doesn’t bother him that even in the Catholic Church, Pope Paul VI’s “Humanae Vitae” remains controversial.

The Church’s attempt to regulate women’s sexuality (and that’s all this is about) is being subverted by reality: The herd is ignoring the shepherds. There’s a lot of hypocrisy at play. When Santorum insinuates that contraception leads to damaging, promiscuous behavior and at the same time denies the connection between (a lack of) contraception, teenage pregnancy and abortion, it’s due to his fantasies rather than reality. How the debate turns out will be determined in November.